OSCARS

Meet Alone Yet Not Alone, This Year’s Most Random Oscar Nominee

There weren’t many major surprises during this morning’s Oscar nomination announcement in the marquee categories. That shock value was reserved for the hair and make-up category, which included The Lone Ranger and Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa among its contenders, and the original-song category, which included a virtually unknown faith-based movie from deep left field, called Alone Yet Not Alone. So just what should we know about the latter, this year’s most W.T.F. Oscar nominee?

The movie’s official Web site tells us that Alone Yet Not Alone, adapted from Tracy Leininger Craven's novel of the same name, is the “inspiring true story” of Barbara and Regina Leininger and their journey “of faith and survival” during the French and Indian war. It was produced by Enthuse Entertainment, a company whose “vision is to produce God-honoring, faith-based, family-friendly films that inspire the human spirit to seek and know God.” And just how God-honoring and faith-based is this film? So God-honoring and faith-based that it has earned an official endorsement from former Senator and devout Catholic Rick Santorum. (In the video below, Santorum tells the world, “I love to go to a movie where you are entertained but also feel like you are part of an American history, and the struggle and the sacrifice and the important role of faith in particular.”)

In a somewhat hilarious write-up of the film’s most "offensive" scenes, Dove.org—a site by the Dove Foundation that provides family-oriented film reviews—notes that the only case of profane language occurs when “a girl is called a dog by an Indian.” And the only incident of near-nudity occurs when “two women take a modest bath while wearing a gown and only bare shoulders are seen.” If it weren’t for the questionable depiction of Native Americans as complete savages in the trailer, we would be tempted to call Alone Yet Not Alone the anti-Wolf of Wall Street of Oscar season.

Worth noting as well: as noticed by Hitfix, "Alone Yet Not Alone" composer Bruce Broughton is in fact the head of the Academy's music branch. We'll leave it to you to decide if you think that helped push the song into contention.